What Does qualitative Mean
The Latin. This is the language in which we can find the etymological origin of the qualitative term that we are now dealing with. And it is that it derives from the Latin word "qualitativus", which can be translated as "related to quality" and which is made up of two different parts:
• The noun "qualitas", which is synonymous with "quality".
• The suffix “-tive”, which is used to indicate a passive or active relationship.
Qualitative is an adjective that is used to name what is linked to quality (the way of being or the properties of something).
A qualitative analysis , therefore, is aimed at revealing what the characteristics of something are. In this way, the qualitative is focused on quality , as opposed to the quantitative, which is focused on quantities.
Let's look at an example to better understand the concept. A soccer coach asks his assistant to compile reports on his team's latest games. The technical assistant, in this way, develops two studies: one quantitative (where he details that the team scored seven goals, won two games, lost three and used eighteen players) and the other qualitative (which specifies that the team performed poorly and that performed below expectations as targets agreed before the start of the tournament were not met).
The qualitative can also be an assessment of qualities over numbers or figures . An artisan who makes bracelets decides to favor the qualitative and create only three bracelets a day, taking care of the details and the finish of the product, while another can give preponderance to the quantitative and produce eight bracelets a day, but of lower quality. In general, in an economic or commercial environment, the higher the quality, the higher the value (that is, what has quality is sold at a higher price). Continuing with this example, the artisan who makes three bracelets may sell each piece for 20 pesos, while the one who produces eight, must offer them, due to their characteristics, at no more than 6 pesos each.
It is important to establish the existence of what has been called qualitative research, which is one that aims to achieve concrete results through the use of methods or tools such as surveys, discussion groups, open interviews or experiments.
Within the field of social sciences is where the use of the aforementioned methodology is most frequently used, which can be of several types:
• Research - action. By means of it, what is intended is to obtain a series of data that allow improving the situations of certain groups, and for this what it does is to investigate their participation.
• Ethnography. Participant observation becomes the fundamental basis for the development of this type of research, which is based on the study of the different types of life that human beings can have.
• Projective techniques. It is based on the fact that some individuals, when they proceed to interpret the behavior of others, what they do is indirectly account for their beliefs, ideas, thoughts, feelings or motivations. This study is carried out through resources such as focus groups or the association.